Giant cell interstitial pneumonia in a nickel metal hydride battery worker: a case report and literature review

Giant cell interstitial pneumonia (GIP) is a very rare chronic interstitial pneumonia caused by exposure to metal compounds such as cobalt or tungsten carbide. Although GIP was included in an original framework for the histologic classification of idiopathic interstitial pneumonias by Liebow and Carrington in 1969,~1 GIP is currently considered a form of pneumoconiosis. In GIP, the interstitium and alveolar walls are thickened by mononuclear cells, and the distinguishing diagnostic feature of GIP is the presence of a large number of giant cells filling the air spaces.~2 To our knowledge, no case report in the Chinese language literature has described GIP proven by open lung biopsy,working in factory manufactured nickel metal hydride battery. We report a case of GIP diagnosed by open lung biopsy, and describe the clinical, chest radio-graphic, high-resolution CT, and histo-pathologic features of GIP.